"Usually, fishermen come under one person whom they will hand over their catch to return the favour for helping them in times of need.
KUALA LUMPUR: The Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry must take proactive measures to reduce middlemen from the marketing chain of fish products. Senator Yunus Kurus said this is necessary as middlemen have full control of the fish market and determine the wholesale price.
“This results in poorer fishermen and richer middlemen.
“Usually, fishermen come under one person whom they will hand over their catch to return the favour for helping them in times of need.
“We must reduce the middlemen as their continued presence does not help to improve the income of fishermen despite increasing catch,” he said when debating a motion on the Supplementary Supply Bill (2012) 2013 here, yesterday.
Yunus proposed that a special insurance scheme for fishermen be created with the cooperation of banks and the ministry to cover them during mishaps.
“The ministry also needs to review the Fisheries Act 1985 to extend the fishing zone to increase the catch as the catch has dropped due to intrusion by trawlers.”
He praised the ministry’s transformation plan that provide fishermen with loans to buy boats costing over RM2,000 each via a sharing scheme involving five fishermen.
-Bernama
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